Digital or Physical Media?

Ahh, it has been officially one week since I moved in to my new apartment, and of course there is the problem of unpacking. I also started my new job this week, so my time to unpack has been rather slim. I noticed that many of my items that I packed were Audio CDs, DVDs, Blu-Rays, and Video Games (PS1, PS2, PS3, PS4, PSP, PSVita, Wii, DS, and others) outside the usual things to pack. I had my bed, desk, clothes, model kits, entertainment center, and other stuff I deemed worthy of keeping, after slowly trying to get rid of things I no longer value or care for.

Moving Your Collections

The picture shows a glimpse of my collection. It is not a substantial collection, but one that I choose to keep. it may have accounted for only 20% of what I had of my possessions to move, but these items are things that can be increased or eliminated based on user choice. Considering the total weight of packages, care to keep them in, rarity, sentimental value, and other factors on why we keep our Audio, Video, Game, and other items when they can be digitized instead.

Physical or Digital Media?

Do you keep your favorite music/shows/games/movies in digital form or in physical media? After moving again I wondered if I should keep all this stuff, in the event I have to move out yet again. I have been conflicted ever since I first moved out of my mom’s house 7-8 years ago in keeping certain media with me.

Some albums or movies I definitely loved and of course wanted to keep, others I either grew out of or really did not want to keep them, and either sold them or donated. But this really depends on person to person.

After finding about Hi-Res Audio, and knowing that CD (and Vinyl) media are not the best versions of many albums, It really irritated me that there are albums I really want to buy, but the best version is not on a physical media (or times when I am in the wrong region to buy).

List of Good, Bad, and Ugly of Choosing

Physical Media:

Good:
-Feels like you own a great piece of art
-Packaging Bonuses, be it booklet, DLC code, or unique boxes and disc art themselves
-Potential to sell when you are not interested (or even when you need the money)
-Store shopping, especially at used stores!

Bad:
-Extra item to lug around and take care of
-Scratch damage, inability to use if severe
-Sorting, when in large numbers, can get annoying
-Finding space to store them all (and having a partner who would not be annoyed with your collection)

Ugly:
-Extra material you don’t want
-Digitizing process can be hard or annoying (for those who don’t know what they are doing)
-A large collection can mean more weight during your move
-Sharing your media may mean lending your copy (Oh No!) or taking time to copy it digitallyDigital Media:

Good:
-No extra plastic to weigh you down
-No packaging if you don’t want to fuss around with extra plastic
-No need to worry about scratch and other damage!
-Easy to share with anyone, even to friends that live far away

Bad:
-Can’t hold the item in your hands
-No extra physical items when you buy it
-Cannot re-sell (legally)
-If storing in local drives, replacing drives after 5-ish years, and maybe having 2-3 backups.
-If storing in the cloud or similar, paying for service

Ugly:
-Conversions can be bad when moving to physical media (for those who don’t know what they are doing)
-Files would need to be re-downloaded if deleted, at worse re-purchased
-Hard to showcase your collection using folders versus bookshelves that look more impressive to others

Who Should Consider This List?

This list can change depending on anyone, be it the audiophile of every kind, anime DVD and Blu-ray collector, digital nomad, tiny apartment dweller, retro gamer, minimalist, house librarian, and whoever you may be.

I remember having more than 200 model kits before I first moved out (I also kept the boxes that the kits came in), and when I moved out it was such an overwhelming task! This was actually nothing compared to my friend’s MASSIVE manga collection that she kept in her paid storage unit (we joked around on her opening her own Manga Cafe with her collection alone). She has since then reduced it greatly, as she moved around in Los Angeles often.

ATTENTION

This is not a download site! We are an informative blog, and will post links on where to buy albums and possible video links for preview purposes. No albums (in any resolution) are uploaded onto this site. Please do not ask for albums to be uploaded or emailed, I will point you in the direction on where to buy CDs or High Resolution albums. Thank you.